So Thank You Music was the “Hit” of the Happy Hour with its amazing nose of fresh ginger and lemongrass, as well as its wonderful taste which matched the nose. A close second was Last Snow, which is an interesting name as Boca Raton never even gets a 1st snow… actually it’s a celebration ale for those in South Florida to toast with as the “Last Snow(bird)” leaves the region.

After the happy hour we took a short walk to Bernini, a fabulous Italian Restaurant in the heart of Ybor City for our first beer paired dinner.

Kellerweis – Hefeweizen – 4.80% abv. In my opinion this is one of the better examples of a true German Hefeweizen made in America.

For the 2nd Course we had a choice between the Classic Caesar Salad (I had mine with extra anchovies) or the House Mista Salad paired with:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Pale Ale – American Pale Ale – 5.6% abv. This is Sierra Nevada’s “Flagship” beer and the one beer you can count on finding in most pubs or restaurants which haven’t figured out the craft beer movement yet.

For our Main Course our choices were either Angel Hair pasta tossed with Grilled Chicken Breast; Shrimp Orecchiette; Margherita Pizza or the New Yorker Pizza with roasted peppers, onions, mushrooms, pepperoni, Italian sausage & mozzarella. (the pizzas as well as the meal servings were HUGE!) These were paired with:

Tampa Bay Brewing Company was founded in 1996 and is a family business, with mother and son serving as general manager and brewmaster respectively. Their on-site brewery is equipped to produce up to twelve tap beers and several cask-conditioned ales on a 10bbl step-infusion brewing system. As a matter of fact, 12 of their 16 serving tanks used to hold the beer at the famous Bass Ale Brewery in England.

Tampa Bay Brewing Co’s Tanks

Here we tried the Wild Warthog Weizen – 5.2% abv; Jack the Quaffer London Porter – 5.7%; Iron Rat Stout – 8.0% abv and the MooseKiller Barleywine- 10.0% abv as well as a taste of their fabulous Root Beer, which is made on site.

Tampa Bay Brewing Co

After we left Tampa Bay Brewing Co, our plan was to do some beer hunting at New World Brewing Co. At New World Brewing you will find the best selection of craft beer in Ybor City with 26 taps and at least 100 bottled beers. You can also enjoy entertainment in their outside courtyard. However tonight the courtyard was packed, so instead we opted to return to the hotel and do some beer tasting in a more relaxed atmosphere.

Back at the hotel, in additional to revisiting some of our “Happy Hour Beers”, we shared:

On Saturday morning our 1st stop was Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is known as the Sponge Capital of the World, so we visited the Famous Spongeorama to see the Sponge Diving Museum and stroll along the waterfront and a few specialty shops.

Hellas

Tarpon Springs is also Florida’s own Greek village, so we of course had to sample some mouthwatering pastries at the very authentic Greek restaurant, Hellas. This was a “sweet” way to start the morning!

While Bob explained to us his brewing process, including his use of open fermentation, he also showed off his new tanks and told us that he has just expanded to offering his 3 brews- Saison Athene – Saison – 7.5% abv, Lectio Divina – Belgium Strong Pale Ale – 8.0% abv & Pays du Soleil – Dubbel – 8.0% abv- in kegs.

Saint Somewhere

After seeing the size of this small brewery everyone was extremely impressed when Bob told us that his beers can be found in 35 states! It is truly mind boggling that that much beer can be produced here. Bob also said that he will be brewing the next collaboration beer he has planned with Cigar City called Déjà Vu, in this location. He told us that it will be a completely different style then Vuja Dé, which was made at Cigar City.

Checking the smell of Lectio Divina

Did you know that 11:00 am is the time of day your taste buds are supposed to be most in tune? Well fortunate for us our beer tour happened to be at Saint Somewhere right about then, and we were invited to help ourselves to a taste of Lectio Divina out of the keg…and as if that wasn’t a beautiful thing in itself, Bob also shared with us 3 additional very special brews!

The Younger Oak Aged Blend

The 1st special brew was an extremely young oak barrel aged blend of his beers. Bob warned us that it was “young & hot” and really needed to age quite a bit longer before consuming. The nose of this beer was a mixture between rocket fuel and nail polish remover, however when it came to the taste, it was like drinking a fine port wine with no hint of the fuel or remover.

The 2 oak barrels used in aging the special brews

Enjoying the special brew

His 2nd special brew was a mature 2-3 year old oak barrel aged blend. This beer was sublime, the nose was mildly tart/sour with hints of oak, caramel and vanilla and the taste was both tart yet mildly sweet of fruit- with notes of the oak and a smooth as silk mouth feel. I could drink this all day. Ruth says just thinking about it makes her mouth water!

Getting a whiff of the Saison Athene with Brettanomyces “C”

Saison Athene with Brettanomyces “C” strain

The 3rd special brew was a taste of a beer which he says never made it to the market. It was his Saison Athene with Brettanomyces “C” strain. The “C” strain added more tartness and citrus in the nose and taste than you would find in the “regular” Saison Athene.

After tasting these 3 beers, it made me feel extremely blessed that we have such a great Belgium style artisanal brewer here in Florida.

Great sign on Bob’s Desk

Dunedin Brewery

So we left Tarpon Springs to head over to Florida’s Scottish heritage town, Dunedin. Here we visited Dunedin Brewery for a brewery tour, beer tasting and a great lunch! Plus we will have Bob from Saint Somewhere join us too!

Dunedin Taps

Dunedin Brewery is the oldest microbrewery in Florida. They always have 8 of their beers available year round on tap plus a few extra seasonal beers as well as guest taps.

Dunedin Celtic Gold Ale

We all stated off with their Celtic Gold Ale – Kölsch – 5.2% abv to enjoy while we toured around their brewing facilities

Dunedin Brewery Tour

Sharing a Dropkick Red Ale with Bob

We had all worked up a mighty thirst during our tour, so we were happy to try the samples of their Dropkick Red Ale – Amber Ale &

I chose to have their famous Pacific Coast Fish Taco, and since I heard they still had some of their delicious Christmas Farm Ale – Spiced Beer – 5.2% abv available, I paired that with my fish taco. Boy, this was one great lunch stop!

Having fortified ourselves, we will set off to Cigar City Brewery. On our way over to Cigar City we passed the time playing a few rounds of Beer Cap Bingo for some beery cool (of course) prizes.

Cigar City Brewing

Cigar City Brewery was founded by beer columnist and Tampa native Joey Redner in the summer of 2007. Since its inception CCB has been guided by Joey’s passion for both great beer and the city of his birth. With the creative input and expertise of Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup award winning brewer Wayne Wambles, Cigar City Brewing endeavors to make world class ales and lagers which celebrate the rich heritage and traditions that make Tampa one of the world’s most unique cities.

During our tour of Cigar City’s facilities what struck me the most was how much they have expanded since we were here last year. During our walk around the brewery we even caught a glimpse of a group of B.J.C.P. judges occupying the back end of the brewery where they were hard at work judging something I’m sure we will quaff in the future!

What on Tap at Cigar City Brewing

Once we made our way to the tasting room we had some samples of:

Getting a taste of Vuja Dé

Vuja Dé – American Wild Ale – 10.0% abv

Cubano Espresso – American Brown Ale – 5.5% abv

Jose Marti – American Porter – 8.0% abv

Humidor Jai Alai IPA – IPA – 7.5% abv

Cigar City Tasting Room

After having our fill at Cigar City we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our big night out at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. (or so they keep calling it…I wonder how long and how many beer dinners it will take to convince them to add Beer to the name?)

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar

Stylish, contemporary dining is the hallmark of Fleming’s. The menu features the finest in prime beef, augmented by a tempting variety of chops, seafood, chicken, generous salads, inventive side orders and indulgent desserts.

Fleming’s

We had a 4 course beer paired gourmet dinner created especially for our Beer Safari by the chef at Fleming’s.

Between Courses we had a brief overview of the beer we were drinking and the chef explained how he paired the meal with the beer. As you can see, we decided to try the same beer for the first pairing as the previous night, in order to do a comparison of appetizer/beer pairing for this beer, just to try something a little different. This Kellerweis is what I consider the perfect example of this style.

After Dinner we returned to the hotel for another round of beer tasting, but the 1st order of business was to settle our dispute as to which cartoon dog, Muttley or Snuffles, was the one which would jump up and then float down in air on his back like a feather after receiving a treat. To our surprise it was both!

On Sunday morning after a leisurely breakfast we enjoyed a perfect day for our guided historical walking tour of Ybor City (the original “Cigar City”).

A little piece of Cuban Soil found in Ybor City during our walking Tour

The old Florida Brewing Company Building

Our guide informed us that Ybor City is also the home of the 1st brewery in Florida, the Florida Brewing Company (after prohibition it was re-named Tampa Florida Brewery, Inc). In 1896 the construction of the Florida Brewing Company started; when it was finished, it was the tallest building in Tampa at six stories. They used the water from a natural spring which ran under the building to make their La Tropical Beer. The Florida Brewing Company exported more beer to Cuba than any other brewery in the USA. Unfortunately this Brewery closed in 1961.

The Tampa Weekend Beer Safari was a great time! We visited 2 brew pubs, 2 breweries, a great craft beer bar, had a 4 course gourmet beer paired meal at a really great steakhouse and actually saw a few local sights beyond the beer!

We started out Friday evening getting to know each other during Happy Hour.

A few of us at Happy Hour

We all got a chance to sample Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, Southampton Beer de Garden and Brasserie Lefèbvre’s Blanche De Bruxelles

After the happy hour we walked into the heart of Ybor City to meet our paranormal and haunting expert, “Miss Prudence Fipwhistle”.

"Miss Prudence Fipwhistle"

She entertained us during a one-hour ghost walk tour of Ybor City, one of North America’s most interesting – and haunted – neighborhoods. This tour ended at the Tampa Bay Brewing Co. where we had our evening meal.

Tampa Bay Brewing Company was founded in 1996 and is a family business, with mother and son serving as general manager and brewmaster respectively. Their on-site brewery is equipped to produce up to twelve tap beers and several cask-conditioned ales on a 10bbl step-infusion brewing system.

Tampa Bay Brewing

As a matter of fact, 12 of their 16 serving tanks used to hold the beer at the famous Bass Ale Brewery in England. Before dinner we were given a tour of their brewing facility by Dave, the brewer.

Tampa Bay Brewing

Here, you can see some of our guests enjoyed a pre-dinner brew.

Tampa Bay Brewing

After the tour we had a tasty beer inspired dinner. For the 1st course we had a choice of either their famous Beer Cheese Soup or the Onion Porter Soup; both were paired with their Red Eye Amber Ale.

Dinner at Tampa Bay Brewing

For the main course we had the choice of the Iron Rat Stout Shepherd’s Pie or the Brewhouse Barleywine Meatloaf; this course was paired with the Iron Rat Stout. For dessert we had the Beignets served with Moosekiller Anglaise paired with the MooseKiller Barleywine– yummy!

After dinner, some of our guests were ready to return to their room to relax and get a good night sleep, while some were raring to go on a small beer hunting expedition to New World Brewing Co. In the courtyard of New World Brewing, there was a great acoustic guitarist playing. This made for a perfect backdrop to enjoy our beers.

New World Brewery

After discussing everyone’s favorite style of beer, as the beer guide, I suggested Harry & Robert order a Victory Prima Pils and Debbie an Old Rasputin. I had an Allagash White & I’m not sure what Ray ordered, but as you can see, he apparently enjoyed it!

New World Brewery

On Saturday morning our first stop was Tarpon Springs. Tarpon Springs is known as the Sponge Capital of the World,

so we visited the Famous Spongeorama to see the Sponge Diving Museum….this is a totally kitsch stop for those into old Florida tourism type stuff. And we mean OLD Florida, this place could really use an update, but then again, that would take the fun out of it! Nothing to be taken too seriously, that’s for sure! Tarpon Springs is also Florida’s own Greek heritage village, so we stopped by Hellas, an authentic Greek restaurant for some of their mouth watering pastries!

Hellas in Tarpon Springs

Tarpon Springs

We then took a stroll along the waterfront and specialty shops, where –hey, what do you know they were selling authentic Greek beers!

Tarpon Springs

What a way to start the day!

Then we were off to meet our friend Bob Sylvester and see his brewing set up at Saint Somewhere Brewing Company.

Saint Somewhere Brewing Company

Boy did we luck out! We were fortunate enough to be visiting Saint Somewhere on the day they were bottling Saison Anthene! Here, they bottle the old fashion way, by hand. It was a thrill to watch them first sanitize, and then fill the bottle, cork it, add the cage, put on the label and finally watch them box it.

Saint Somewhere Brewing bottling of Saison Anthene

Before we watched them bottle, Bob showed us around his facility and explained his brewing process and told us a little about his beers.

Saint Somewhere Brewing Co.

Filling up on the Saint Somewhere's Flemish Red

Lucky dogs that we are- he also opened up two special kegs for us to try! One was a Flemish Red, which he does not bottle for sale. Too bad! This was a blend of 2 different year beers, one a year old and the other fresh. While drinking his Flemish Red it reminded me of a Rodenbach Grand Cru, it was delicious!!! His other beer on tap was a “hopped” up version of his Saison Anthene, again this is a version of the beer which is not bottled so na na if you weren’t with us! (Sorry, couldn’t resist!!)

Saison Anthene with Brettanomyces Claussenii

We also got a chance to taste the “regular” version of Saison Anthene and a special bottle made only for Redlight Redlight in Orlando with Brettanomyces Claussenii. This is a different stain of Brett than used in their normal bottle, which gives it a bit more tartness. Bob was also generous enough to share with us his latest creation, Pays de Soleil, which should be hitting the South Florida market any day now.

Mike and Ruth from Bon Beer Voyage along with Anne and Bob Sylvester of Saint Somewhere Brewing

Everyone had a great time & didn’t want to leave,

We don't have to leave Saint Somewhere, do we?

but we had to let Bob get back to bottling. So we left Tarpon Springs to head over to Florida’s Scottish heritage town, Dunedin. Here we visited Dunedin Brewery for a tour, a tasting and lunch.

Dunedin Brewery

Fermenting since 1996 and still going strong, Dunedin Brewery handcrafts all of their own ales from their Piper’s Pale Ale to their Apricot Wheat.

What's on Tap at Dunedin Brewery

They also have a great menu including the most awesome Pacific Coast Fish Tacos you will find east of Baja! With great atmosphere, great food and 9 ales brewed year round as well as 5 or more seasonal offerings throughout the year, this was one great lunch stop!

Dunedin Brewery

Travis, the general manager, gave us a lesson on the brewing process & showed us around the brewery

Dunedin Brewery

Dunedin Brewery

including introducing us the beer tanks named Ginger, Mary Ann & Lovey, which of cause are the females of Gilligan’s Island. After our tour we were all thirsty and Travis was prepared as he offered us all samples of their Wheat, Apricot Wheat, Red Ale and I.P.A.

Dunedin Brewery

Dunedin Brewery

After the tasting we all had lunch, I chose to have the famous Pacific Coast Fish Taco and paired that with their delicious Double IPA “the Rock”. Before we left I made sure I had a chance to try their Bière de Café, which was an extremely smooth brew & you could easily mistake this beer for an iced coffee, boy was it good!!!

Dunedin Brewery

Dunedin Brewery

Dunedin Brewery

Having fortified ourselves, we set off to Cigar City Brewery

Cigar City Brewery

(who, incidentally, just added 5 gold medals along with a silver and bronze to their growing collection of awards!)

5 Golds, 1 Silver & 1 Bronze Metal

for a tour and tasting in their new tasting room.

Cigar City Brewery was founded by beer columnist and Tampa native Joey Redner in the summer of 2007. Since its inception CCB has been guided by Joey’s passion for both great beer and the city of his birth.

With the creative input and expertise of Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup award winning brewer Wayne Wambles, Cigar City Brewing endeavors to make world class ales and lagers which celebrate the rich heritage and traditions that make Tampa one of the world’s most unique cities.

Cigar City Jai Alai

Joey showed off the new tasting room to us in addition to our brewery tour.

What's on Tap at Cigar City

He explained their brewing process and showed us the “cedar” chips they use to make their Humidor series beer.

Cigar City

Cigar City

He also gave us some insight to the future expansion of their facilities, told us about their new “hopless” beer and informed us that the Humidor series Jai Alai will now be a yearly brew instead of a one time only brew. After this tour Joey offered us a tasting of their Bonita Brown Ale & Jai Alai IPA,

A tasting at Cigar City

Joey giving us a few samples

then he surprised us all with a bottle of Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout to share.

Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout

I ended up buying a glass of Marshall Zhukov’s so I could compare the taste of that to Hunahpu’s . All 4 brews I had were extremely delicious.

Our Group Tour at Cigar City

We all could have hung out in the tasting room all night, BUT we had to get back to the hotel to get ready for our big night out at Fleming’s Steakhouse.

Fleming’s is reknowned for their stylish contemporary dining, awesome steaks, and their fantastic wine list…but boy, they can do some magic with good brews as well! We had the good fortune of having a 4 course beer paired gourmet dinner created especially for our Beer Safari by the chef at Fleming’s, who, as luck would have it, is a beer enthusiast himself! Just look at the menu we had!!